A night to forget

Farmers
affected by the Cobbler Road fire continue to count their losses as the mop up
around the Yass Valley continues.

More
than 13,000 hectares were burnt and the number of reported stock lost continues
to rise exponentially.

Local
farmer Peter Southwell, who owns and manages ‘Fairview’ on Burrinjuck Road,
said the fire came from across Childowla Road and, before he knew it, was
nearly at his shearing shed.

He
said it all happened extremely quickly on Tuesday evening and, thanks to help
from the fire brigade, he was able to save a lot of stock and avoid losing his
home or any surrounding sheds.

“In
the end we were extremely lucky,” Mr Southwell said.

“We
did lose 80-90 per cent of our land which is a lot, but we only had seven sheep
burnt in the fire.”

Mr
Southwell said what happened was terrible and that this sort of disaster can
really affect a farmer.

He
said it will take a lot of time and a lot of money for most to get back to
where they were just eight days ago.

“Look
it is a real setback for us. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and recovery.
It has also taken an emotional drain on everybody in our family.”

In
some areas, the fire got to about 30 metres from Mr Southwell’s main shearing
shed and about 200-300 metres from his home.

“The
fact that we saved our house, our sheds, and so much stock was great. The
firies out there were absolutely fantastic, we couldn’t thank them enough
because without them we would have lost 100 percent of ‘Fairview’.”

Having
moved there in 1984, Mr Southwell and his wife Faye, had always made the
decision that if a fire came they would stay and protect what was important to
them.

“We
decided on that a long time ago. We had a great bushfire survival plan which we
put into place as soon as we saw the fire over Childowla Road. We decided years
ago we wouldn’t leave ‘Fairview’ in a bushfire.”

Mr
Southwell said the community support had been amazing and it meant a lot to him
and his family.

“The
amount of phone calls we have had, people checking on us, people asking if they
can help, it’s really lifted our spirits.”